Feb 25, 2013

Iggy and the Stooges Return with "Ready to Die"

MUSIC NEWS- Better 40 years later than never: The follow-up to the first record ever to bear the Iggy and the Stooges logo; the immortal proto-punk masterpiece Raw Power, will finally be out April 30, when Fat Possum Records releases the all-new Iggy and the Stooges studio album, Ready To Die.

Ready To Die has Iggy Pop, guitarist James Williamson and drummer Scott "Rock Action" Asheton back in action for a full album of all-new material for the first time since the legendary Raw Power sessions, with Mike Watt filling in for the late Ron Asheton on bass. The results are the closest thing to a time trip back to 1973, or at least to Iggy's subsequent efforts with Williamson, including 1977's Kill City and 1979's New Values, that rock 'n' roll is likely to serve up in this millennium. The new album's opening one-two of ‘Burn’ and ‘Sex & Money’ pair are said to be sublimely blunt and self-explanatory subject matter with back alley razor-blade guitars and a troglodytic rhythmic stomp as intensely single-minded as Iggy's lyrical statements of intent. Elsewhere on the album, anthems abound in the form of the most dead-on rallying cry for the lower-working-class dispossessed to date--the succinctly and aptly titled ‘Job’ - as well as a title track that mixes a signature Iggy Pop mission statement of angry desperation with guitar pyrotechnics that recall those halcyon opening salvos of ‘Search & Destroy’.

As for the decision to record and release a new Iggy and the Stooges album for the first time since 1973, Iggy recently commented:
"My motivation in making any record with the group at this point is no longer personal. It's just a pig-headed f*cking thing I have that a real f*cking group when they're an older group they also make f*cking records. They don't just go and twiddle around on stage to make a bunch of f*cking money..."
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Oh, Iggy and the Stooges will begin the Ready To Die live assault shortly. Stay tuned.